Tour Israel Blog

Over the years, we have perfected the Pesach (Passover) week by combining a family seder at home, with an activity-packed family vacation somewhere in Israel. Some years we head south to the area around Eilat, and some years we head north to the Golan Heights, the Upper Galilee, or the Western Galilee.

We spend our days hiking – sometimes through muddy waters – exploring caves that are reached by climbing along death-defying narrow ledges, and beach combing along the springtime coast of the Mediterranean Sea.

One thing all these Passover vacations have in common is that we always rent a vacation villa or a self-catering cottage – but we never stay at hotels.

The truth is that we used to camp out – and that was the best fun of all. Israel has campgrounds with shower and kitchen facilities. You bring a tent, a grill, and you are set. Maybe it’s time to consider the tenting option again…

Our multi-generational extended family tries to spend time together in Israel during the holidays. Half a year ago during Passover, when the northern part of Israel was quiet and peaceful, we went north to Metulla for a bunch of days. The year before we stayed in the Western Galilee on a kibbutz.

Once we have all agreed on the geographic location of our family holiday, we need to agree on the type of accommodations that best suits our needs.

In the past, we have stayed at hotels – on both sides of the Atlantic. And while hotels can be good places to return to at the end of a busy day, lately we prefer self-catering vacation units. Such places give us greater flexibility for mealtimes and menus, more space (not just a hotel room) for the generations to play together, more privacy for our family group, and a casual dresscode. Standard equipment for these family holidays is a grill – and the men are in charge of all food related issues.

One year we rented a 3-bedroom, 2 bathroom vacation villa, complete with hammocks on a large grassy lawn. The villa was located minutes from national parks, hikes, good restaurants.

Another year we took over a 4-family self-catering unit in Metulla. This meant that each room had its own bathroom, and we had 4 compact kitchens. We could see Lebanon across the fields.
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